Trip Report Buffalo, Bugs, and Beer - A lostpro9het Surf 'n' Turf report.

Alright, alright, alright let’s get this beast going! As pointed out in the PTR, this trip had some purpose to it and I wont rehash the reasons why here. I will say that we had an amazing time saying goodbye with some great surprises along the way. With that, lets go!

Saturday May 11th
We got up bright and early at 04:00 and were pulling away by 04:30. This seems to be the only time one can navigate through Atlanta without hitting traffic, sadly the same cannot be said for Henry County’s traffic. Anyway, our go-to pit stop is always Tifton where we fueled up and grabbed some breakfast at Starbucks, we skipped ChikFilA for some reason. About an hour later and we passed the boarder.

All was going swimmingly until around the time we hit Gainesville. Then it was tick….tick…tick..tick. The swarm made its first appearance. The windshield started to look like a Jackson Pollock painting that could not be undone with wipers and fluid. I swear, lovebugs bleed quick dry contact adhesive, more on this later. Soon we were hitting the turnpike and then 429 to Western Way. We made right for home.

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday May 12th cont.

So we rolled the dice with the boats again but this time it came up us! A short boat trip and we were docking and walking towards our room. As we made our way across property there was a familiar face to our right in the midst of a photo shoot. Those of you may remember when we met Dean during our Let’s see if this dumb thing works” Treat Yo Self Christmas trip report!

We didn't want to interrupt the session and just smiled, waved, and nabbed the above paparazzi pic that he struck a pose for.

We finally made it to our room and were happy to see our view, despite those fornicating flies! The room was beautiful as expected and we were happy to finally be here.

More room pics coming next.

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday May 12th cont.

More pics of our room. Love the TV in the mirror.

The only blemish of the room is something I probably would never have noticed but my detail oriented bride had a good laugh at this:

Nothing says "Deluxe" like a 40w bulb sticking out of a cheap ceiling fan.

We relaxed a bit in the room enjoying some coffee and snacks before making our way to the Top of the World Lounge to meet up with a WDWMagic friend.

 

[MinnieM123]

More pics of our room. Love the TV in the mirror.

Room is lovely. (The TV in the bathroom mirror would freak me out a bit, though., but that's just my opinion.)

 

[AgentPerry]

Following along

 

[sheriffwoody]

That fan I would have noticed that too! Housekeeping probably took it down to dust it and broke it or something... I have some bare bulbs showing in my house for that reason

 

[LeighM]

I would totally notice the globe missing on the fan LOL. I'm so paranoid my husband will break the ones in our house that I stand underneath the fan to hold the globe as he's changing the lights. My OCD self isn't taking any chances

 

[RememberWhen]

Loving your TR and excited to hear about the cruise! We’re going to be on the Dream next July. 2020. I can’t wait!

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday May 12th cont.

So after an hour or so of relaxing and coffee we were coming up on our time to meet up with a friend at the Top of the World Lounge. For those that don't know, the TotWL is a DVC member lounge that is, well, at the top of Bay Lake Tower. They offer several small plates and an array of beverage options. The location, obviously, provides some great views of Seven Seas Lagoon and MK. The lounge opened at 6:00 and we had never been there before so we didn't know if it would be busy or dead. We were to have our meet at 7:00 and ended up leaving our room around 6:30 to catch the monorail to CR. As you enter BLT you have to take the elevator bank to the left and show your member card to the attendant manning the location. This is similar to the process for CG where they operate the elevator for you to the top for access. It was kinda exciting doing something new. We had stayed at BLT a few times and never even consider heading up here. The lounge already had about parties seated throughout and we grabbed a table near the window.

A short time later @Big Hair arrived and the fun began. This was our second time meeting him, our first was a year or so prior that was cut short by some timing issues and we would remedy that tonight. We had been looking over the menu and we considered some food options bet decided to start with some drinks.

The beer options were all domestic and my unnecessary beer snob ways would allow me to partake so I went with a Boulevardier which was Disney select creek, Campari and Carpano sweet vermouth:

This guy was well made and DANGEROUSLY STRONG.

The DW went with a glass of red:

Big Hair went with a domestic beer and I wont hold that against him at all ;-)

We dove into the ins and outs of our Disney history, likes, dislikes, ordered additional rounds, and even discussed DCL. The conversation was amazing and two hours passed like it was minutes. We were so engulfed in discussion that we were oblivious to the fireworks starting! This wouldn't be the last time great conversation trumped fireworks this trip. We paused briefly to enjoy the things that go boom in the night.

We talked a bit more while the lounge emptied out and agreed we needed to do this again in the future. I wont lie, we pushed DCL hard and even DLR as possible future meeting locations. We closed things out with a few hugs and well wishes before parting ways. Big Hair had been a LONG time and we wanted to kiss MK goodnight. If the opportunity ever strike, @Big Hair is a great dude to hang out with and talk Disney!

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday May 12th cont.

With an hour before MK closed we walked from BLT to MK while dodging the droves of folks exiting. We had one goal tonight and that was the kiss goodnight. We had about 30 minutes to spare as we entered the park but also armed with a SM FP so Tomorrowland was our first stop. The SM queue was ridiculously long and we were thankful we had the FP tonight!

One thing we neglected to do at the lounge was get a bite to eat! The DW was verging on hangery and decided Casey's would fix that. To our dismay they took away the footlong option and served some seriously sorry hot dogs. We were disappointed but kinda stuck here. So disappointed that it wasn't even worth taking a picture. We're done with CC now.

We timed it well, however, and the kiss goodnight was about to begin as we finished with Casey's

We hit up one photo CM before leaving the park.

We caught a boat back to VGF, cleaned up, and went straight to bed. Tomorrow would be our Dream day and the excitement was big.

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday May 13th, Dream Day!

So the day had finally come, time to get our embarkation on! We woke to a beautiful morning and still had plenty of time to slowly get ready before breakfast. While the sky was slightly overcast it would burn away soon enough.

As is a precruise tradition for us we had an ADR at Kona today. We oped to drive over rather than walk.

The Kona Press creep is now up to $9.50

But being Disney suckers, we paid it...

Still lamenting the loss of the Big Kahuna I settled for the Polynesian Egg Platter, it was ok:

DW went with the smoked gouda grits but something caught her eye that she hadn't noticed before, Spiced Ham. My bride is a fan of SPAM and she was curious if this could be the same canned...delicacy she loved. We inquired with our server and sure enough it was SPAM. Needless to say Spam was on the menu! Personally I'm not a fan of canned meat so she got to enjoy all of it.

Breakfast was good and we had the luxury of not being rushed and had some time to relax with breakfast, take in some people watching, and scope out the gift shop before making for Port Canaveral.

For the 3 of you that don't know, I-4 traffics sucks as much or worse than Henry County traffic so it was slow rolling for the very few miles we had to go to catch 528. Our journey on 528 was mostly smooth until about 25 miles out from port when things slowed to a stop for a single car crash disabling the right lane. It was here we could really see how bad the love bugs were. There were literal swarms moving in unison like small black clouds. It was an amazing sight to see. Our windshield was COVERED and it made getting pictures pointless. This also prevented us getting a decent shot as we approached port. No big deal, though, we were getting on a boat!

 

[lostpro9het]

Saturday May 13th, cont.

Soon we were pulling into the third floor of the PC parking deck and making our way across the bridge to the security checkpoint. We paused long enough to get our token precruise selfie

The line for the security checkpoint was small but there were a handful of morons in front of us not heading the instructions from the officers on duty which slowed things down a bit, no worries. Soon we were in and things were hopping! we quickly checked in trough the gold queue waited with all our new friends. We typically start boarding around 11:45 but that time would come and pass as would 12:00. Word was getting out that the ship was up for its scheduled safety inspection so we were delayed til around 12:20. We were boarding group 2 so as soon as the all aboard was called we were quickly though and the McGillicuttys were getting announced:

We made for the midship elevators and up to the adult pool area where I readied the Castaway Cocktail mix after securing the POG juice from Cabanas:

In the background you may notice things were looking pretty wet. The CMs were fiercely battling the love bugs on the open deck areas with sprayers, hoses, and squeegees. It was a futile battle as once they cleared an area it was completely covered again. They ultimately roped off the pool areas until we were sailing away. The bugs really didnt interview with teh people and you could sit out on a lounger without being bothered. So we opted to skip Cabanas and hit up Flo's for lunch and relaxed poolside for a bit.

 

[lostpro9het]

wait wut??

 

[MinnieM123]

The Kona Press creep is now up to $9.50

But being Disney suckers, we paid it...

Of course you did!

It's been YEARS since I had Kona. I'd pay that price.

 

[coachwnh]

wait what?? another one ?

ok

Huge U2 fan!! Wish I could like this more than once.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Saturday May 12th cont.

So after an hour or so of relaxing and coffee we were coming up on our time to meet up with a friend at the Top of the World Lounge. For those that don't know, the TotWL is a DVC member lounge that is, well, at the top of Bay Lake Tower. They offer several small plates and an array of beverage options. The location, obviously, provides some great views of Seven Seas Lagoon and MK. The lounge opened at 6:00 and we had never been there before so we didn't know if it would be busy or dead. We were to have our meet at 7:00 and ended up leaving our room around 6:30 to catch the monorail to CR. As you enter BLT you have to take the elevator bank to the left and show your member card to the attendant manning the location. This is similar to the process for CG where they operate the elevator for you to the top for access. It was kinda exciting doing something new. We had stayed at BLT a few times and never even consider heading up here. The lounge already had about parties seated throughout and we grabbed a table near the window.
View attachment 381441

A short time later @Big Hair arrived and the fun began. This was our second time meeting him, our first was a year or so prior that was cut short by some timing issues and we would remedy that tonight. We had been looking over the menu and we considered some food options bet decided to start with some drinks.
View attachment 381442

The beer options were all domestic and my unnecessary beer snob ways would allow me to partake so I went with a Boulevardier which was Disney select **** creek, Campari and Carpano sweet vermouth:
View attachment 381443

This guy was well made and DANGEROUSLY STRONG.

The DW went with a glass of red:
View attachment 381444

Big Hair went with a domestic beer and I wont hold that against him at all ;-)

We dove into the ins and outs of our Disney history, likes, dislikes, ordered additional rounds, and even discussed DCL. The conversation was amazing and two hours passed like it was minutes. We were so engulfed in discussion that we were oblivious to the fireworks starting! This wouldn't be the last time great conversation trumped fireworks this trip. We paused briefly to enjoy the things that go boom in the night.
View attachment 381445
View attachment 381446
View attachment 381447

We talked a bit more while the lounge emptied out and agreed we needed to do this again in the future. I wont lie, we pushed DCL hard and even DLR as possible future meeting locations. We closed things out with a few hugs and well wishes before parting ways. Big Hair had been a LONG time and we wanted to kiss MK goodnight. If the opportunity ever strike, @Big Hair is a great dude to hang out with and talk Disney!
View attachment 381448

I would agree that @Big Hair is an awesome guy to hang out! We were able to meet with him at the Top of the World lounge too.

 

[RyPat]

One thing we neglected to do at the lounge was get a bite to eat! The DW was verging on hangery and decided Casey's would fix that. To our dismay they took away the footlong option and served some seriously sorry hot dogs. We were disappointed but kinda stuck here. So disappointed that it wasn't even worth taking a picture. We're done with CC now.

 

[lostpro9het]

Monday May 13th, cont.
So after an hour or so the all call went out that rooms were ready. We made the short trip aft and down to deck six to check out our room.

Our TA surprised us with a bottle of wine and a massive cheese plate.

 

[lostpro9het]

Monday May 13th, cont.

The bugs had done their business all over the veranda too! Thankfully once we set sail the bug problem stayed behind.

Like WDW, DCL has adopted the pump.

In addition to the pumps they also added a makeup towel to the room as well.

Few more shots of the "room"

Yeah, Iger's quest to deny us nice things has reached Casey's.

 

[Brian & Jill]

Buffalo checking in finally!!!! Loving the trip report so far!!!! We are also in the process of booking another cruise for this October and DL next spring!!!!!
As far as Casey’s not having the foot long anymore really “bites”!!!! We heard after we had gotten home that you can get the foot long hot dogs at Cosmic Rays!!!!!

 

[ELeigh]

The DW did go with the watermelon margarita and while I'm not a fan of margaritas this one was fresh and good!

This is my favorite Margarita ever! Coincidentally I was there enjoying one that same day (ADR time was 1:15-Did we overlap?)
They had packed in more tables then are normally there maybe they were expecting more of a crowd for Mother’s Day?
If you guys ever make it back you need to try the Carne Asada-consistently my favorite steak on property.